In a stunning announcement that will make little sense to nearly all residents of Indianapolis/Marion County, Mayor Greg Ballard announced during his week long visit to the nation of India that our city plans to build a Cricket Stadium. The Mayor’s shocking announcement was reported in the Tuesday evening edition of The Times of India, the leading newspaper of the mega nation. The Mayor told the newqspaper that the city planned to host the US Amateur Cricketing Championship in 2014 at a new stadium that the city “is now building”. The Mayor also told The Times of India that, after hosting the cricket tournament that Indianapolis would be “Searching (for) opportunities to bring major teams from around the world. Cricket is not exceptionally strong in the US right now”, Mayor Ballard told the newspaper. “I need to change that. When people around the world think of cricket, I want them to think of Indianapolis.” Mayor Ballard made this stunning statement at a meeting of Indian business leaders in the city of Hyderabad, an Indian city that has a “sister city” relationship with Indianapolis. The Mayor told the Indian business leaders that Indianapolis already has a cricket field but that the city was building another one. No word on whether any Indianapolis tax dollars would be spent building a cricket stadium or whether this would be paid for with private donations. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Cricket is played with a bat and ball and involves two competing sides (teams) of 11 players. The field is oval with a rectangular area in the middle, known as the pitch, that is 22 yards by 10 feet wide. Two sets of three sticks, called wickets, are set in the ground at each end of the pitch. Across the top of each wicket lie horizontal pieces called bails. The sides take turns at batting and bowling (pitching); each turn is called an “innings” (always plural). There is a Facebook page for a Cricket Club of Indianapolis. Read the full story from The Times of India newspaper here: Mayor Ballard Tells India Newspaper Indy Will Build Cricket Stadium
